Alexander Brooke

Name: Alexander Brooke

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Grade: 12

School: George Hunter High School

Hobbies and Interests: Literature, Podcasts, Electro-Industrial Music, Singing

Appearance: Alexander is a tall and slim boy of Caucasian descent at 6'2" and 140 lbs; being slightly underweight for his height, which he attributes to genetics. He has no muscle to speak of. He has medium-length, sandy blond hair which is parted in the middle. His face is long and thin, with prominent cheekbones and pale blue eyes. His eyebrows are thin and angular. He wears dark sunglasses to mitigate his photophobia.

Alexander prefers to dress semi-formally, as in his mind this suits his preferred image of looking dignified and respectable. He usually wears various varieties of dark vests over light dress shirts, along with black khakis. When performing with his band, Alex wears a black leather jacket to fit in with its Depeche Mode-esque aesthetic.

On the day he was abducted, Alexander was wearing a grey button-down dress shirt, a purple tie, black slacks and black oxfords. He was also accompanied by his guide dog, Montague.

Biography: On May 5th, 1999, Alexander was born in Chattanooga as the second child of Sophia and Benjamin Brooke. Benjamin works as a teacher, while Sophia is the Vice President of U.S. Sales for an automotive company. As a result of her position, the Brooke family is very well-off.

Several months after Alexander's birth it was discovered that he had been born blind, though he could still perceive light. This was caused by the genetic disorder Leber Congenital Amaurosis. Due to the disorder's characteristics, medical science was unable to alleviate his symptoms, despite his family's wealth. As a result Benjamin took a leave of absence from his job as a teacher to help with his son's early upbringing and education.

When Alexander was old enough to begin formal schooling, he was enrolled in a local public elementary school, where he attended regular classes with some support from an itinerant teacher specializing in working with visual impairments.

Though Alexander didn't have many difficulties with his classmates, such as bullying, he had few friends. His lack of sight was a barrier that not many of his classmates were willing to understand, and Alexander was a solitary child by nature.

He thus spent much of his childhood working through whatever braille books his family could get a hold of, as well as a large selection of audiobooks. The Harry Potter series in particular caught his interest, and sparked a lifelong fondness for fantasy literature, enjoying the vast, richly described worlds filled with deep backstory and history. Though as Alexander grew older he began to branch out into other genres, he still considers fantasy to be his favorite.

This interest in reading connected Alexander to the few friends he did make in his youth, most of whom were similarly quiet but desperate to discuss their favorite books. In fifth grade, one of these friends introduced him to an online forum he was a member of, which was trying to drum up membership.

Earlier that year, Alexander's parents had purchased him a laptop with a refreshable braille display that he used in tandem with a screen reader, but he had never really engaged with any of the internet's community aspects. He marveled at the new network of people the forum allowed him to meet, and he enjoyed hotly debating aspects of his favorite novels; along with picking up recommendations for new ones to read along the way. Due to being almost entirely-text based, the forum was easy for him to navigate, as well. While the forum eventually dwindled into inactivity over the course of the next few years, the community was tightly-knit while it lasted; and Alexander still keeps in touch with many of its members, considering them to be close friends.

Another internet-based hobby that occupies much of Alexander's time is podcasts. He appreciates that they are a solely audio-based medium; and he enjoys the wide variety of genres they cover. Some of his favorite shows are "Welcome to Night Vale," for its surreal yet soothing ambiance; "My Brother, My Brother, and Me" for its unpredictable, uplifting comedy, and a variety of shows that focus on introducing the listener to new music.

While Alexander can typically browse the internet with ease, he occasionally runs into non-accessible websites that are effectively unusable for the visually-impaired. He finds this infuriating, especially if the site is ran by a multi-billion dollar company that by all rights should know better.

Alexander has a good relationship with his family. His parents raised him strictly, but supportively, emphasizing treating them and others with respect, while still doing their best to assist Alexander in whatever he set his mind on doing. His relationship with his sister two years his senior, Maria, is somewhat less cordial, and they have spent the vast majority of their time together bickering over one inconsequential feud or another. Despite this, they never held much legitimate anger at each other, and did their best to support each other when either had problems.

Maria inadvertently introduced him to a genre of music that would become a defining part of his interests, as well. She is a fan of Synthpop and Electro-Industrial bands such as Depeche Mode and Assemblage 23, and often played songs of theirs at loud volumes. This irritated Alexander until he realized that he quite liked those bands for their harsh, electronic beats that were contrasted by emotional melodies, and after a while he took to singing along with them.

Eventually, Maria teasingly commented that he actually did a half-decent job at sending like Depeche Mode's vocalist, and while this embarrassed Alexander, he found that he legitimately enjoyed singing. He began to practice for the fun of it, trying to strike a balance between sounding like he suited the genre while still keeping his own identity.

Currently, Maria is attending a liberal arts college to major in art, a decision that her parents privately disapprove of; wishing that she had chosen a more practical career, but accept, taking the stance that she can do whatever she wants as long she legitimately has a passion for it and does it well. She and Alexander still text and swap music recommendations (along with insults) often.

Alexander still respects and admires his parents, and tends to become defensive when the implications of his family's wealth are brought up. He considers himself to be liberal, but is immediately turned off by any "eat the rich" style sentiments expressed by his peers. He believes that his mother worked hard to secure her position, and doesn't think too hard about similarly high-up people who didn't.

In high school, Alexander was recruited by three friends, Beryl Mahelona, Isra Khalili, and Marceline Carlson, that were looking to form an 80s style synthpop band called "Beyond Human". While he was initially hesitant on entering a creative venture with people that he didn't know very well, Alexander eventually decided that it was worth giving it a shot; becoming its permanent vocalist. He soon recruited Roxanne Herbert to be the band's bassist; bringing it to its final lineup.

While the founding members of Beyond Human envisioned a lighthearted sound, Alexander and Roxy drove it towards a more gloomy, melancholic feeling. In regards to the band's creative direction, Alexander is opinionated and not very fond of compromising once he's made up his mind, but he's still willing to hear other people out if they are sufficiently passionate about their arguments. In the present, Alexander considers the four other members of the band to be his best friends; though he wouldn't go so far as to say that out loud.

Academically, Alexander has always done fairly well. His parents, though not incredibly demanding, do expect him to make a good effort, and Alexander does his best to meet their expectations. He studies often, and has managed to maintain an "A" average throughout his high school career. Alexander does not particularly mind school, and enjoys most of his classes, especially electives concerning business. Alexander aspires to follow in his mother's footsteps and have a career in the business world, and plans on majoring in business once he graduates from high school and attends college.

Alexander rarely gives much thought on the subject of his blindness, as it something he has dealt with since the day he was born. With the aid of a cane, he can get around well on his own, and once he was a teenager his family obtained a guide dog for him, a German Shepherd named Montague, who Alexander adores. He gets very irritated when people condescend to or pity him due to his disability, even unintentionally.

While Alexander doesn't consider himself to be unemotional, he is an outwardly stoic individual; rarely allowing his feelings to influence his tone of voice. Due to his upbringing he typically attempts to maintain at least a veneer of politeness, and as such he prefers to resort to sarcasm and barbed remarks if he is irritated. His general outlook towards others is highly influenced by his parents' standards; he has little patience for those that he believes are not making an earnest effort to succeed, no matter how trivial the task. This sometimes causes friction with his bandmates, as Alexander believes they should do their utmost to remain focused and serious during rehearsal sessions.

As he considers it important for someone in the world of business to communicate clearly, Alexander enrolled himself into a public speaking class, and as a result he takes great care with his words, making sure to speak clearly and enunciate properly. This has a side effect of often making him seem distant or guarded.

Advantages: Alexander is intelligent and well spoken. If he keeps a clear head, he could likely find an effective group of allies, even outside of his friends. This may also allow him to effectively construct long-term plans regarding island survival; along with having possible use in any escape attempts.

Disadvantages: Alexander is blind and photophobic. He is physically unfit and lacks deep connections with the greater student body. He will likely react negatively and unproductively to students who break down or give up - partially due to his high standards for others, partially due to a fear of breaking under the pressure, as well.

Designated Number: Male Student No. 68

---

Designated Weapon: Grand Power K100

Conclusion: Thanks for the dog, fucko. - Veronica Rai

'The above biography is as written by Dmboogie. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: Dmboogie

Kills: None

Killed By: Blaise d'Aramitz

Collected Weapons: Grand Power K100 (assigned weapon, to Nia Karahalios), Claw hammer (from Jeremiah Anderson)

Allies: Nia Karahalios, Jeremiah Anderson

Enemies: Nick Ogilvie, Michael Froese

Mid-game Evaluation: Alex was severely impaired from wakening, deprived of any obvious means of combating his blindness, as his cane and dog were both taken from him. His overwhelmed bewilderment became a brief moment of helpless anger. Then, someone else made themselves known. They didn't seem to be able to communicate in any other way besides claps and snaps, so Alex quickly deduced it was Nia. They began to improvise a means of communication, slow, but they were able to work out that they could at least for the moment travel together, as Alex would need a guide off the beach he'd woken up in. Nia seemed willing to assist, and they trusted one another enough to communicate a bit more intelligibly, with Nia spelling onto his palm. She walked him through her process of readying them and she alerted him to his 'assigned weapon' being painkillers- he was still of course unaware that the gun she'd loaded was his own.

Post-Game Evaluation: 

Memorable Quotes:

Other/Trivia

 * dmboogie won the September 2019 Best Death Award for Alexander's death.

Threads
Below is a list of threads containing Alexander, in chronological order.

V7 Pregame: V7:
 * All the Power in the Universe Conspires to Carry You
 * Rings of Saturn
 * Lachesism
 * Rigor Samsa
 * At the End of Days, at the End of Time
 * Assignment to Catastrophe
 * I Know in Darkness, I Will Find You (Giving Up Inside Like Me)

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Alexander Brooke. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''
 * Alexander was crushing, and not just because of the dog angle, but the dog angle certainly deserves special mention. A lot of SOTF characters have grappled with disability, especially in V7, but the specific manifestation in Alexander's story brings a support character who is instantly endearing in the form of Montague, his guide dog. While he only has a couple appearances in Pregame (much like his owner), Montague's absence is the first thing Alexander notes, is referenced in the terrorists' conclusion to his profile, and is simultaneously relieving and wrenching; on the one hand, it's good that the dog is spared the horrors of the island, but on the other, his loss hits Alexander hard and his fate as a pet to the terrorists is a blatant injustice. It drives home, right away, that Alexander is going to get a raw deal.

This of course continues when Nia immediately steals his weapon. The pairing of Nia, unable to speak, and Alexander, unable to see, is an inspired one, because they're two characters who really wouldn't have much reason (or even ability) to interact outside of the game, but who find a lot in common inside of it, both in terms of being particularly disadvantaged and in their attitudes and goals. It helps that their writing also gelled well, each of them having a detail-focused, analytical bent that nevertheless approached each situation from a slightly different perspective. This also meant that, while Alexander often felt put on the back foot, he always retained some measure of agency, narrative and otherwise. He was right there, ready to bluff and escalate and squabble to survive, and his narrative was very successful in making him a character you couldn't help but root for, even if what he was doing wasn't always the nicest.

I would say that where Alexander struggles some, comparatively, is in a few unfortunate facets of his final two threads. The voice work in his and Nia's encounter with Ashlynn, Stepney, and Bryan is good, but it's a tangled interaction among a bunch of characters all chasing different goals and it falls to pieces almost as soon as it starts, leading to a sort of awkward in-and-out. In retrospect, I think maybe all involved would've gotten more out of some smaller, more personal scenes. This also leads into a point of oddity with Alexander's death, which is more or less the opposite of what I mentioned with Dolly. Basically, the entire thread prior to Blaise popping in and gunning Alexander down from the bushes is building up the idea that Nia might actually put him down. I'm a big fan of subverting audience expectations when it's handled slickly and with intent, but in this case the scene's focus feels somewhat misplaced because it's entirely on Nia's building motivations, then Alexander is mortally wounded in a fairly abrupt and arbitrary way (which does his killer absolutely no favors either, retroactively making their behavior in their last few threads make substantially less sense while failing to give the thread immediately before the narrative weight it deserves). I would've liked to see, I think, something that played a bit more to the bubbling ambivalence in Nia, and something that was more payoff than seeming convenience.

That's a relatively small gripe on the whole, though, because what makes Alexander fun and special is less what he does and more his voice, character, and thematic beats, all of which are excellent bottom to top. He's a character who starts the game at an insurmountable disadvantage, rails against fate regardless, and all the while does so with charm and style, and I think he'll be remembered long and fondly. - MurderWeasel